Students may think they are getting smarter from the cognitive boost with prescription drug modafinil. But they need to learn it might be harmful as well.

Investigators at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism enrolled 10 healthy men who received a placebo or modafinil, a drug prescribed for narcolepsy that has shown cognition-enhancing properties. Subjects underwent carbon-11 raclopride PET before and two hours after administration of the agents to measure dopamine activity in the nucleus accumbens, a brain region critical for stimulating the pleasurable emotional effects of addictive drugs.

Researchers found modafinil had a mechanism of action that mimicked known addictive compounds and could thus be habitforming, especially for individuals who are susceptible to addiction. Findings appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association (2009;301[11]:1148-1154).